Drive-gearing



FAY ivr. WOLFE, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

DRIVE-G-EARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1920.

Application filed August 23, 1918. Serial No. 251,108.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, FAY M. VVoLrr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefierson and State'ofKentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDrive-Gearing, of

which thefollowing is a specification.

The gearing which is the subject matter of the present application forpatent has been designed more particularly for use in connection withself-propelled chairs, and'its object is to enable the occupant of thechair to readily control the propulsion means thereof.

The invention also has for its object to provide a driving gear andcontrolling means which are very simple in construction.

With the objects stated in view, the invention consists in a novelcombination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described andclaimed, and in order that the same may be better understood, referenceis had to the accompanying drawing forming a art of this specification.

he preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, but itwill be understood that various changes and modifications may be madewithout a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention asclaimed hereinafter.

In the drawing, Figure 1 isan elevation of the gearing with arts insection, and other parts shown diagrammatically, and Fig. 2 is a sectionon the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring s ecifically to the drawing, 10 denotes the W eels of aself-propelled chair such as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,259,064, datedMarch 12, 1918. The drive-gearing and the motor are inclosed in ahousing 11 suitably supported bythe axles of the wheels 1 10. One ofthese axles is a drive axle, the

same being denoted by the reference character 12. This axle extends intothe housing 11, and is provided with a worm wheel 13 which is in meshwith a worm 14 on the shaft 15 of an electric motor 16 obtaining currentfrom a storage battery 17 located in the housing 11. The inner end ofthe drive axle 12 is supported by a suitable bearing stand 18. I

The motor 16 is pivotally supported from the top of the housing 11, themotor base having a lu 19 which is connected to a bracket member 20 by apivot bolt 21, said bracket member being secured to the top of thehousing.

I This adjustable By pivotally supporting the motor 16, it may be swungbodi y to mesh and unmesh the worm 14.

The following means swinging the motor 16 stated: 7

The outer end of the motor shaft 15 is journaled in a bearing carried bya slide 22 supported by a guide bracket 23 carried by the top of thehousing 11. This slide is en- 'are provided for for the purpose gaged byone of the arms 24,0f a bell-crank lever having its other arm 25extending through a slot 26 in the top of the housing, and fashionedinto a hand grip 27. It will therefore be seen that when the lever endV2': is swung over to the right in Fig. 1, the slide 22 is elevated totake the worm 14 out of mesh with the worm wheel 13, and when the leverend is moved in the opposite direction, the-slide lowers and againbrings the worm into mesh with the worm wheel.

The worm wheel runs in a trough 28 containing a lubricant, and the worm14 is partly surrounded by a shield 29 to catch any oil' splashing offthe same. This oil shield is shown in section in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the slot 26 is a fixed stop 30 for limiting the swing of the leverend 2'1 in a direction to unmesh the worm 14, and on the other side ofthe lever arm is an adjustable stop to limit its movement in a directionto mesh the'worm. The purpose of the adjustable stop is to allow theworm to gear deeper into the worm wheel after it wears from; use. stopmay be a screw 31 threaded through a nut 32 seating in the slot 26.

The bell-crank lever is also employed for controlling the energizingcircuit of the motor 16, said lever controlling an auxiliary switchcomposed of a fixed contact 34 and a:

movable contact 35 in the arm 24, so that when the lever is swung toplace the worm 14 in mesh, the contact 35 is engaged with the contact 34to close the motor circuit. These two contacts are interposed in oneside of the motor circuit, and said circuit therefore remains brokenuntil path of the lever the contacts come together, even though the.

main switch 36 is closed.

The object of the auxiliary switch is to prevent starting of the motor16 if the worm 14 is not properly in mesh with the worm wheel 13, since,if the lever arm 24 is not advanced far enough to fully mesh the worm,the circuit remains broken at the consimple closed at the contacts 34and 35, the closing r of the switch 36 will start the motor; or,

the switch 36 may be closed first, In either case, the motor will notstart until the worm properly meshes, and the circuit is closed at thecontacts 3% and 35. It will be understood that the motor circuit isalsobroken when the lever is operated to'unmesh the worm 14. I

The chair can be easily controlled by the occupant thereof, and as themechanism is there are no parts liable to get out of order.

I claim: g v

1. The combination of a pair of gear mem bers, a housing inclosing saidmembers, a motor pivotally carrying one of the gear members and drivingthe same, said member belng movable bodily with the motor, a guide inthe housing, a slide engageable with the guide and supporting theaforesaid gear member", a

at 36. After the circuit has been for swinglng mounted in the housingand Zthereof in a direction to mesh lever operatively connected to theslide for swinging the motor to bring said member into and out of meshwith the other gear member, the wall of thehousing having a from whichit projects, stop in the slot in the path of said end of the lever forregulating the movement thereof in a direction to mesh the gear member.

2. The combination of a pair of gear members, a supporting frame, amotor said frame and carrying one of said members and driving the same,said member being movable bodily with the motor, a lever the motor tobring the lastmentioned gear member into and out of mesh with the othergear member, said lever being pivoted to the frame, and the latterhaving a slot in which one end of the lever Works, and an adjustablestop in the slot inthe path of the lever for regulating the movement thegear member.

'1' ln testlmony whereof I affix my signature.-

FFAY M-TWOLFF.

pivoted to 30 slot in which one end of the lever works and and anadjustable

